NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Layers Near South Crater

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-611, 20 January 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows layer outcrops near the rim of South Crater,
in the south polar region of Mars. These ancient layered
materials surround an even older knob–the rounded feature
at right/center. This picture is located
near 78.0°S, 336.0°W, and covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide.
Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left.

Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology
built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission.
MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, California.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Mars Surveyor Operations Project
operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial
partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena,
California and Denver, Colorado.